This weekend sees the return of Dot to Dot, hot on the heels of the recent Hit the Deck Festival – review here – the DHP team are back with their original multi-venue music festival and, as ever, it’s heaving with some of the best up and coming bands on the scene – as well as a huge selection of acts from our very own City.
At our count there are well over a hundred performances at SIXTEEN locations across the day meaning there will be plenty to see.
With so much going on we figured rather than overwhelming you with all the acts we’d shine a spotlight on the Nottingham performers you can catch this Sunday – and there are plenty of them.
ROCK CITY
Rock City is playing the role of DHP HQ for the day and it’s hear you’ll have to go to get your wristbands, allowing you access to all stages throughout the day, and of course there will be plenty of music at the biggest venue taking part.
Two Nottingham acts kick things off in the Rock City main stage with the excellent BITTER STRINGS getting it started at 2pm, blending a mixture of 60’s beat pop, northern soul and good old rock and roll these guys are returning to the Rock City main stage once again for Dot to Dot.
Following on from them will be one of the Nottingham music scenes tips of the year. Despite only having formed last year AMBER RUN have already garnered national attention, landing a record deal and getting much national radio love. Picked out by just about everybody within the Nottingham music media as Ones to Watch in 2014 these guys are certainly a band to catch as their stock continues to rise.
Full Rock City line up: BITTER STRINGS, AMBER RUN, Josh Record, The Midnight Beast, Wolf Alice, The Pizza Underground, Drenge, Peace.
ROCK CITY BASEMENT
The Rock City Basement will be getting in on the action with Nottingham performers HUSKIES getting things started downstairs – their first of two sets during the festival.
Full Rock City Basement line up: HUSKIES, Big Sixes, The 45S, St Paul & The Broken Bones, The Heartbreaks, Charlotte OC, Superfood, George Barnett, Laura Welsh
Saint Raymond
TRENT STUDENT UNION
The Student Union at Trent will be getting in on the act and have a fantastic line up include four of Nottingham’s best musical performers. Up first is the always excellent GEORGIE ROSE, a firm favourite on the Nottingham scene Georgie always gives a stellar performance and is certainly worth getting down to the Union for when she kicks things off their at 2.45pm.
You’ll be extremely tempted to stick around as well because following Georgie will be none other than the truly sublime NINA SMITH. After taking some time off last year Nina has now returned and is sounding better than ever, with some fantastic new songs we’re sure this will be a set to catch from a huge Nottingham talent.
JOEL BAKER may well spend most of his time down in that their London, where he works by day in the Houses of Parliament, but he is still a Nottingham boy and one who is getting some serious national attention thanks to his beautiful sound.
One of Nottingham’s biggest names of the moment brings down the curtain on the Trent Student Union stage.
SAINT RAYMOND is, without doubt, one of the stars of the Nottingham scene at the moment, having recently performed his biggest gig to date and with numerous festival appearances lined up, not to mention an Arena tour support slot with Ed Sheeran, there seems to be no stopping this hugely talented young man. Despite the often lazy comparisons to Jake Bugg, Saint Raymond, aka Callum Burrows, has a far more upbeat, catchier sound than his fellow Nottingham performer. We certainly can’t wait to catch him performing in his home town this weekend.
Full Trent Student Union line up: GEORGIE ROSE, NINA SMITH, JOEL BAKER, Young Kato, Hudson Taylor, Lauren Aquilina, SAINT RAYMOND
RESCUE ROOMS
The Rescue Rooms will be a hive of activity with three stages of live music throughout the day, the biggest of which is, of course, the main stage where one of Nottingham’s finest, and most underrated, talents will be kicking things off.
GALLERY 47, aka Jack Peachey, is quite frankly incredible; if you’ve ever had the chance to see Jack play you’ll almost certainly have been blown away by his beautiful voice and wonderful lyrics. We have no doubt that this set will set the tone for the day beautifully.
Full Rescue Rooms line up: GALLERY 47, Southern, Norma Jean Martine, Ezra Furman, Caveman, Darlia, Sivu, Slaves, Kyla La Grange, Years & Years, Courtney Barnett, Real Estate
RED ROOMS
As well as the goings on in the main bar there will be plenty of live music upstairs in the Red Rooms and kicking it off will be Nottingham’s in your face rock powerhouse BAND OF JACKALS who are certain to give you a mid-afternoon kick up the arse.
Full Red Rooms line up: BAND OF JACKALS, Champs, Freddie Dickson, Emily & The Woods, Hero Fisher, Fyfe, Port Isla, Cousin Marnie, Stats, Wonder Villains
Josh Wheatley
RESCUE ROOMS BAR (ACOUSTIC ROOMS)
Nottingham is lucky to be blessed with a huge array of acoustic talent, as seen at the likes of Acoustickle, Acoustic Rooms and Under the Tree every month, and there will be a host of them performing in the Rescue Rooms bar area this Sunday – along with a couple of outsiders.
The stage is being run by Acoustic Rooms, the regular Rescue Rooms acoustic night and they held a special competition to select the act that would open the stage at mid-day (with two runners up appearing at BrewDog and Suede Bar as well). The winner of the competition was the truly wonderful JOY MUMFORD and we have to say we think she’ll be perfect for getting things going on the Acoustic stage and well worth getting down the show early for.
JOSH WHEATLEY is a firm NottinghamLIVE favourite and one of a very small number of performers to make more than one appearance on the NottinghamLIVE Radio Show, not to mention one of the semi-finalists in this year’s Future Sound of Nottingham competition. Josh will be following Joy Mumford and we cannot recommend this hugely talented singer enough, get down and check out his amazing voice.
THE CHASE are a young rock and roll band that we’ve only heard a little about, but what we have heard we like and we’re definitely keen to hear them perform an acoustic take on their music.
The next trio of guests were all firm favourites of the NottinghamLIVE Radio Show giving stellar performance when joining us in the studio for live sessions, first up JAMIE MOON who was one of the last performers, if not THE last, to appear on the show before it’s untimely end this spring. Jamie has just finished work on his EP; hopefully we’ll get a taste of what’s to come on Sunday.
ANWYN WILLIAMS is up next and is among the stand out performers in the Nottingham music scene, we highly recommend you catch Anwyn perform because you are sure to be blown away by her wonderful voice.
JOSH KEMP is the third of the trio and one of the early guests on the radio show, always fun to watch Josh has charisma to match his talent and always gives a fantastic performance, though we’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t through in his cover of Wanna Be Like You from Disney Classic The Jungle Book.
Following on from Josh will be the excellent ESTHER VAN LEUVEN. Esther who often performs with Frazer Lowrie, and has also teamed up with Nottingham producer extraordinaires The Elementz on occasion, possess a truly mesmerising voice and delivering songs full of passion and feeling.
ATTICUS ANTHEM are one of those bands that seem to spend far more time playing outside of Nottingham than in their hometown meaning anytime they do play here is always special, add to that the fact they’ll be playing on an acoustic stage and the reasons to catch their set only go up.
Young singer CONNOR SPRAY is up next and has promised, via his Facebook page, to bring you a set that has “drew blood, sweat and beers”as if you could possibly need any more reason to be there.
MOLLY AND JACK may well hail from over the border in Lincolnshire but this talented duo are familiar to all on the Nottingham scene with regular appearances in our fair city, the latest of which sees them follow Connor onto the Acoustic Rooms stage this Sunday.
ADAM PETER SMITH will be up next, one of the busiest performers on the Nottingham scene when he is not performing there is usually a good chance he’s putting on an open mic night or some such event, when he is performing he is well worth checking out.
Following Adam will be GEORGE HOLROYD a performer who only came to our attention fairly recently but who is continuing to make his mark, his Dot to Dot performance will mark the start of a summer of festival performances that will also include Under the Radar, Glastonbury and Nottingham’s own Splendour Festival.
LEAH SINEAD is one of our favourites on the ever growing Nottingham acoustic scene, offering a unique sound and fantastic voice Leah delivers hugely enjoyable acoustic folk rock with enchanting lyrics that will grab you from the start.
At just 19 years old BUD is another reasonably newcomer to the Nottingham scene but has certainly made her mark since appearing with her wonderful pop/folk and reggae sounds that are absolutely ideal for a warm summers day, we’re expecting things to continue gathering pace for this hugely talented youngster.
CHESHIRE AND THE CAT might still be young un’s themselves but they feel like positive veterans of the Nottingham music scene – we remember them playing NottinghamLIVE @ The Maze back in 2012. As well as being brilliantly named this duo perform a fantastic blend of indie, jazz, swing and ska that always gets the party going.
If you’re familiar with the Nottingham music scene you’ll almost certainly have heard of RYAN THOMAS, performing a wonderful blend of folk and blues Ryan released his debut EP Worries & Troubles this April and has been performing across the country picking up new fans, with festivals lined up through the coming months Dot to Dot looks like just the start of a big summer for Ryan.
Finally we’ll be treated to a headline slot from Nottingham boys 94 GUNSHIPS, fronted by the excellent Will Jeffery and described as “the gruffest blues to fall this side of the Trent” 94 Gunships are sure to bring proceedings on the Acoustic Rooms stage to a close in style.
Full Rescue Rooms Bar (Acoustic Rooms) line up: JOY MUMFORD, JOSH WHEATLEY, THE CHASE, JAMIE MOON, ANWYN WILLIAMS, JOSH KEMP, ESTHER VAN LEUVEN, ATTICUS ANTHEM, CONNOR SPRAY, MOLLY & JACK, ADAM PETER SMITH, GEORGE HOLROYD, LEAH SINEAD, BUD, CHESHIRE & THE CAT, RYAN THOMAS, Adam Barnes, Sean McGowan, 94 GUNSHIPS
Ryan Thomas
STEALTH
Kicking things off in Stealth will be one of the hottest tips in Nottingham, electronic duo APRIL TOWERS appeared as if from nowhere last year and only had their first live shows in recent months but despite that they’ve been getting much love from the music media in Nottingham and beyond finding a place and just about everyone’s Ones to Watch list. Give them a listen and you’ll quickly realise why.
Rounding things off in Stealth will be newly signed Nottingham act SHELTER POINT who will be taking you into the early hours of Bank Holiday Monday.
Full Stealth line up: APRIL TOWERS, Young Romance, Stonefield, Osca, Lapland, The Romona Flowers, Sundra Karma, White Lung, Jaws, Betty Who, LSA, Raleigh Ritchie, SHELTER POINT
BODEGA
There will be live music both upstairs and downstairs in The Bodega with the upstairs seeing Nottingham acts open and close proceedings.
Kicking things off will be one of the bands of the moment around these parts. FIELD STUDIES have quickly built up a fan base in Nottingham with their enjoyable alt-rock sound and they were clear winners in this year’s Future Sound of Nottingham first round making them the only act to go straight through to the final. Things are only going to get bigger for this band, who are now only one step away from the chance to open the Splendour Festival main stage.
Meanwhile for those of you able to stick it out till the early hours you can catch a set from the hugely talented AJA who produces a brilliant electronic sound fronted by her fabulous vocals.
Full Bodega line up: Upstairs – FIELD STUDIES, Sheppard, The Trouble with Templeton, James Isaac, Tor Muller, Gengahr, Drowners, Life in Film, James Bay, Luke Sital-Singh, The Mispers, Laurel, AJA
Downstairs – The Vibe, Gallery Circus, Max Jury, Misty Miller, The Elwins, Fred Page, The Jacques, Noah Gundersen, We The Wild, Barbarossa, Famy, The Bohicas, Johnny Lloyd
SPANKY VAN DYKE’S
There will be plenty of great music to enjoy if you head along to Spanky’s during the day, and Nottingham performers will be both kicking off and closing up on the stage.
Starting things off will be FIELDS with their anthemic rock sounds, meanwhile the excellent, and much loved KAGOULE with their fantastic, moody guitar rock sounds.
Full Spanky’s line up: FIELDS, Love Zombie, No Sinner, The Minutes, Gavin James, We Were Evergreen, MT Royal, Horse Thief, Fickle Friends, God Damn, KAGOULE
JAMCAFE
It wouldn’t be a Nottingham music event without the involvement of Jamcafe who will be presenting a selection of fantastic music from their Lace Market location and being the Jamcafe you know the atmosphere is going is going to be electric.
To start things off will be the brilliant dreamlike folk-soul-blues of THE GOLDEN TROUBADOURS, meanwhile if you miss HUSKIES when they open proceedings on the Rock City Basement stage you’ll have a second chance to catch them at Jamcafe on Sunday night.
You can expect blues drenched indie from two-piece Nottingham/London rockers WHISKY STAIN and a real party of a time from the always enjoyable SEA MONSTERS EYES.
Full Jamcafe line up: THE GOLDEN TROUBADOURS, TBA, Jay Brown, TBA, Alice Bowman, HUSKIES, WHISKY STAIN, SEA MONSTERS EYES, Brothers Rasputin.
The Breakfast Club
THE CORNER
The Corner may spend most of its time as the office premises of some of Nottingham’s biggest groups, including I’m Not From London and LeftLion, but it also makes a great live music venue and is joining in with the fun for Dot to Dot.
With the INFL team behind this venue it’s no surprise there will be a heavy Nottingham representation at the venue. Things get started with some loud and punky garage rock from BUS STOP MADONNAS.
THE BREAKFAST CLUB are one of the fastest rising new bands on the Nottingham scene, taking their name from the much loved cult teen movie, these guys have quickly made an impact with their catchy lyrics and great pop sound.
There is more punk next from the wonderfully named FRESH EYES FOR A DEAD GUY and you can catch top alt rock from the Chris McDonald fronted LEO & THE SERAPHIM and there is more rock from JC DECAUX.
RATTLE will be up next with their experimental indie sounds while THE CULT OF DOM KELLER will wow you with their ace psych sounds.
Finally the brilliant SLEAFORD MODS will be taking to the stage and if you haven’t heard this duo you’re seriously missing out on a treat as Andrew Williamson vents out his frustrations at modern day Britain with a rich blend of anger, swearing and humour.
Full The Corner line up: BUS STOP MADONNAS, THE BREAKFAST CLUB, FRESH EYES FOR THE DEAD GUY, The Scenes, LEO & THE SERAPHIM, July Talk, JC DECAUX, RATTLE, THE CULT OF DOM KELLER, SLEAFORD MODS
BROADWAY
Broadway Café are joining in the fun on Sunday with several acts taking to the stage, there is less on here than elsewhere with just four acts performing, and kicking things off will be Nottingham punk act WHITE FINGER.
Full Broadway line up: WHITE FINGER, La Femme, Honeyblood, Dolomite Minor
BREWDOG (ACOUSTIC)
BrewDog has established itself as a fine live music venue as well as a much loved drinking establishment and so it’s hardly a surprise to see it get in on the action for Dot to Dot, so if you fancy a chance to sample some fine ales while checking out some great music this may well be the ideal stop off point.
Starting things off will be Acoustic Rooms competition runners up JOE AND MIKE followed by firm Nottingham acoustic favourite FRAZER LOWRIE.
You can catch wonderful acoustic folk sounds from Mansfield’s BRAD DEAR followed by catchy folk pop from ALEX HEL and soothing soft sounds from ALANNAGH COOKE.
Full BrewDog line up: JOE & MIKE, FRAZER LOWRIE, BRAD DEAR, ALEX HEL, ALANNAGH COOKE, Dr X
SUEDE BAR (ACOUSTIC)
Our final venue of the day is Hockley pizza venue Suede Bar who will be offering some great acoustic action, the ideal place to stop off when you fancy something to eat.
Competition runner up PHOEBE BALL will get the ball rolling here. You can expect some wonderful soulful sounds from the hugely talented young singer STARZ FALADE.
Expect soothing acoustic folk sounds from HEAVYHEADS and finally to wrap it all off the fantastic sounds of the excellent NOAH.
Full Suede Bar line up: PHOEBE BALL, Richard Fenwick, STARZ FALADE, Yakobo, HEAVYHEADS, Polly Yates, NOAH
So as you can see there is plenty of great Nottingham music to enjoy at various venues throughout the day, the only difficult decision is choosing which ones to catch.
It’s truly fantastic to see so many Nottingham acts on the line up for this excellent festival and we hope those of you going down will check some of them out, let us know who catches your eye this Sunday and if you discover any new Nottingham favourites.
Enjoy Dot to Dot Nottingham.
